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Primary Election Results

Hawaii voters took to the polls Saturday on the heels of the first hurricane to hit the island chain in 22 years. Despite the storm, the state’s Primary Election continued. The election went on to oust the incumbent governor and leave a race between two Senate candidates too close to call.

The winners from each political party in the primary election will go on to appear on the General Election ballot in November. In the primary, voters could only select candidates within their chosen parties. In the general election, they may vote for party or nonpartisan candidates.

Local Turnout

On Molokai, 4,100 people registered to vote this year. Of that number, 1,619 voted at one of the island’s five polling locations— Kilohana, Kaunakakai, Maunaloa, Kualapu`u and Kalaupapa. Additionally, voters could have cast their votes through absentee mail-in or early walk-in ballots.

At Kaunakakai Elementary Cafeteria, precinct leader Nani Wong said voter turnout for the entire day was good and didn’t differ much from previous election years. She said she encourages the Molokai community to “come out and vote if you want to get your party in office or change something.”

“It’s important,” Trinidad continued. “I hope the people I voted for will serve Hawaii and Molokai well, and will come out good.”

For some Molokai voters, like community member Jane Lee, this year’s primary election marks “a critical time in Hawaii’s history,” she said.

“We have got to make sure the people elected into office are going to serve the people of Hawaii, Hawaiian rights and issues well,” Lee said.

Molokai resident Kai Thieok said he voted because of the issues that will affect Molokai jobs.

“I try to vote every time I have a chance, but especially right now,” Thieok said. “There are going to be a lot of people affected by certain issues related to job retention or job losses.”

Loss for Governor, Win for Mayor

For the first time in the state’s history, an incumbent governor lost the primary election. After nearly four decades in political office, incumbent Gov. Neil Abercrombie was defeated in his bid for re-election by Sen. David Ige, by about 66 percent to 31 percent respectively statewide. Ige will face Republican Duke Aiona in November’s General Election.

The defeat marks the end of Abercrombie’s long political career, where he severed in the State Legislature, then Congress and finally as Governor.

Meanwhile, incumbent Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa won the primary by a 63.6 percent landslide.

Senate Race Continues

Two Senate candidates are locked in a tight race too close to call as of Sunday, and all eyes are now on the Puna district of Hawaii Island, where state elections officials postponed voting in two precincts where Iselle hit hardest, causing road closures, loss of power and running water.

Voters were unable to cast ballots at Hawaii Paradise Community Center and Keoneopoko Elementary School polling places.

With Senate candidates incumbent U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and his Democratic primary challenger, current U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa separated by less than 2,000 votes, the results of the ballots cast by Puna will determine the outcome.

Puna is home to 8,255 registered voters in the two precincts where the election was suspended. The Elections Office announced Monday that it would open the polls at Keonepoko Elementary School for the two precincts this Friday. The polling hours will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and voting results will be announced that same evening.

Initially, the Elections Office considered mailing out ballots to affected voters.

Hanabusa said Tuesday she might file a lawsuit with the Hawaii Supreme Court to postpone Friday’s election because she’s concerned for Puna residents still struggling with storm damage.

Molokai Votes

While in some races, Molokai voters reflected statewide trends, other results varied when looking at the candidates Molokai supported. Based on averages recorded by the state election office at each Molokai precinct, The Dispatch calculated island-wide averages for some of the leading races.

Hawaii is a historically Democratic state and Molokai is no exception with a majority of 1,364 Democratic votes and 176 republican ballots.

For the Democratic race for U.S. Senate, Molokai supported Hanabusa with 57.3 percent over Schatz with 39.8 percent. Molokai’s strong vote for Ige lined with the statewide results. Molokai with 70.7 percent casting their ballot for new leadership, while Abercrombie received 26.1 percent of the vote island-wide.

Mufi Hannemann received 100 percent approval for the Independent primary for Governor, while in the Republican Party, nominee Duke Aiona earned 94.9 percent support. Molokai’s own Barbara Haliniak, a Democrat, gained 52.8 percent support for the State Representative of District 13, which includes Hana, East Maui, Paia, Haiku, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe.

Though Haliniak gained favored support on Molokai, she lost the bid for State Representative of District 13 to incumbent Mele Carroll, who earned 60.6 percent for Molokai.

As of Sunday morning, the voter turnout results produced in a final summary by the Office of Elections revealed 285,440 people, or 41 percent, voted out of Hawaii’s 688,778 registered voters statewide. The turnout for Maui County was 27,537.

Voter participation was down in comparison to the 2012 primary election where 290,695 or 42 percent of 687,500 registered voters cast ballots.

Historically, Hawaii has one of the lowest voter-turnout rates in the nation; though, Molokai saw a slight increase in voter registration and participation this year.

This year, 4,100 Molokai residents registered to vote and 1,619 cast ballots, with 921 voting early with absentee mail or walk-in voting. This is an increase in early voting compared to the 2012 primary election where 728 individuals voted early. In 2012, 1,572 voters participated out of the 4,061 registered voters.